ON1 Photo RAW 2018 takes on Lightroom with more features and improved Raw processing

After releasing it in beta last month, ON1 has officially announced the latest version of its image editing and organization software: ON1 Photo RAW 2018. With this newest version, ON1 wants to establish its application as a viable alternative to Adobe's Lightroom, and says most of the improvements to the new version are a direct result of community input.

The new app comes with an updated raw processing engine and a new HDR function that merges a bracket of photos for increased dynamic range. Pano Stitching combines multiple photos into a single panoramic image and a host of new masking tools allow for precise selection of image areas and background masking.

ON1 has also updated the UI for a cleaner and more modern look, and has added support for the Nikon D850, Olympus EM-10 III, Panasonic DMC-G85, preliminary support for Sony a7R III, and a range of new lenses.

Other features include: re-editable adjustments for exposure, contrast, color, shadows, highlights, lens correction, and transform tools, as well as hundreds of customizable photo effects.

ON1 Photo RAW 2018 for Mac and Windows is available now for download as a free 30-day trial from the ON1 website. Previous owners of any ON1 app (or ON1 plug-in) can upgrade to the new version for $100, while new users will have to pay $120. However, a single license can be activated on up to five computers.

For more information and a full list of updates, check out the video below and read the full press release below that.

Press Release

Portland, OR – November 9, 2017 ­– Today, ON1, Inc. announced ON1 Photo RAW 2018 is officially available. Along with the essential tools and features needed in a photography workflow, ON1 Photo RAW 2018 includes key updates to the fast, non-destructive raw processing engine. Photographers now have an integrated tool with accelerated photo management, precise photo development, hundreds of customizable photo effects, fast and beautiful HDR, pano stitching, masking and blending adjustments, layers, and much more – in one app.

From the beginning the ON1 community has driven the development of ON1 Photo RAW based on what's most important to them. Almost every feature and improvement made to the app in version 2018 is a direct result of community input through the ON1 Photo RAW Project.

This type of transparency is what customers can continue to expect from the ON1 team. This process has solidified ON1 Photo RAW as the app designed by photographers for photographers and a great alternative to Adobe® Lightroom®.

ON1 Photo RAW 2018 includes major updates and enhancements in many areas. Key new features include the following.

ON1 HDR – Create stunning HDR photos that merge all tonality from a bracket of photos in a fraction of the time (test results have shown up to seven times faster than other HDR apps). Automatically aligns photos and removes ghosting from motion between exposures. Includes full non-destructive editing with natural results and can be turned up to 11 for a surreal look.

Pano Stitching – Combine multiple photos into a single panoramic or matrix photo. Automatically aligns photos, even if they are not shot on a tripod, and blends them together seamlessly. An option to embed panoramic metadata for Facebook panning is also available.

Global Mask Editing Tools – These include new mask Density and Feather sliders to allow for changing the density or opacity of masks as well as blur masks for softening.

Luminosity Mask Updates – Adjust the levels of a mask to increase the contrast or brightness as well as set a tonal window to only affect a certain zone. These updates allow users to target just the area they want, based on the photo.

Color Range Masks – Create a mask from a color range selection.

Blur and Chisel Mask Tools – In ON1 Effects, the Blur and Chisel mask tools are now included. The blur tool is perfect for softening or feathering a mask selectively. The Chisel tool lets the user push or pull the edge selectively, to remove halos. All of these new masking options are re-editable and non-destructive.

Versions — Versions are virtual copies of the same photo. Each version created can include non-destructive settings, including crop, retouching and adjustments. Versions work just like any other photo without taking up more space on your computer.

Updated UI — Clean and modern UI where your photo is the center of attention. Custom name filters and layers to easier keep track of work. Also select your own UI accent color.

Paint with Color Brush — Painting with color can be a solid color, perfect for skin smoothing and making annotation layers, or paint with just the color and leave the underlying luminosity in place to change the color of objects like eyes.

Selectively Add or Remove Noise — Brush away noise in areas like skies or add noise for an artistic effect.

Improved Highlight Recovery –– The algorithms for highlight recovery have been improved.

ON1 Photo for Mobile — Take the best shots with you on the go with the free ON1 Photo for Mobile app. It’s a great way to share portfolios. It can also sync new photos taken on phones back to the desktop so those photos are ready for editing.

Additional Camera & Lens Support — Added support for the Nikon D850, Olympus EM-10 III, Panasonic DMC-G85, preliminary support for Sony a7R III, plus a ton of new lenses.

ON1 Photo RAW 2018 differentiates itself from other apps by allowing photographers to both browse and catalog their photos from the very beginning of their workflow. This hybrid system provides one of the fastest digital asset management tools available today. The ultra fast photo browser is perfect for quickly viewing and culling through photos without having to wait on an import process. Once the culling process is complete, the ability to create and catalog those photos is the next step in common workflows.

There is plenty more available within the app's non-destructive photo development. These features include re-editable adjustments such as exposure, contrast, color, shadows, highlights, lens correction, and transform tools. The hundreds of unique photo effects are also perfect for finishing off your photos to add that extra punch. Photographers have complete control of how each effect is applied using masking brushes, gradients masks, and local adjustments. Each effect is also completely customizable to save any look as a custom preset.

Photo editing technologies such as live blending options, apply to, smart layers, smart photos, and mask refinement tools also make ON1 Photo RAW 2018 a more advanced pixel editor without having to launch a separate app. The ability to combine photos together with layers, masks, and selectively apply filters and effects to raw photos gives users a big advantage.

ON1 Photo RAW 2018 isn’t just for raw files. Supported file formats include JPEG, TIF, PSD, PSB, PNG, and DNG are supported and benefit from the speed, performance, and abundance of editing tools in the app. Photo RAW 2018 also continues to work seamlessly within current photography workflows. The app integrates as a plug-in for Adobe® Lightroom® Classic CC and Photoshop® and further builds its case as a complete standalone photo editor or alternative to the Adobe Photography Plan. Version 2018 also integrates with the major cloud services to allow for uploading, managing and editing photos across multiple computers. This also allows users to sync photos and their edits across multiple computers or in a studio setting.

Price and Availability

ON1 Photo RAW 2018 is available for download as a free 30-day trial from the ON1 website. Previous owners of any ON1 app (or ON1 plug-in) can upgrade for $99.99. Those who don’t own an ON1 app can order for $119.99. ON1 Photo RAW 2018 is also bundled with some excellent bonus materials which include: Three ON1 Photo RAW 2018 Courses by Product Director Dan Harlacher, and all of their 2017 and 2018 Loyalty Rewards. ON1 Photo RAW 2018 works with both Mac and Windows and includes activation on up to five computers.

Comments

I have used PaintShop Pro since its JASC days and am now on version 17. I like its very good interface across 2 monitors but am increasing annoyed by the amount of childish adware on my desktop and in the program. I tried an upgrade to 18 looking for more 16bit colour support. This was a total disaster: images truncated, crashes, and it overwrote my 16 but I have long been used to backing up previous software versions and setting Restore Points prior to upgrades so all was OK. Since PSP has reached the end of the road; do I have to subscribe to Camera Raw, PhotoShop, Lightroom., etc?

I've been using Perfect Effects for a couple of years now, and if you're looking for a Photoshop replacement, it's a reasonable alternative. But as a Lightroom replacement? Not by a long shot.

All of these software companies don'tunderstand the appeal in Lightroom isn't the post-processing tools, but the ability to quickly sort through a large catalog, compare repeating shots, and decide which ones to keep and process. You can't do that if you're loading one image at a time, or if it does have a film strip, each photo takes seconds to load.

All the options for layers, masks, filters and brushes are only meaningful to Photoshop users who are concentrating on a few images.

Only Lightroom, as far as I can tell, will recognize video files. I've banged on at my CaptureOne contacts, just make these data bases recognize and catalogue video files too. If a digital camera shoots it to the same card, and we're ingesting said card contents to a database, the database should ALL contents, and catalogue them.

Precisely. I don't work with video, so I don't have your problem. But people don't seem to understand that Lightroom is a cataloging and sorting tool, first. as a post-processing tool, it's functional but it's meant for simple fixes when working large batches of photos. If you need to stitch, layer and do a lot of pixel level manipulation in every photo, LR isn't for you.

All of those alternatives that claim to be LR alternatives have huge caveats. On1 Photo RAW loads one image at a time, so you can't compare images. Dx0 Optics Pro doesn't support Fuji X-Trans RAW files. Also, although Dx0 does have a film strip that you can jump images with, it's too slow for comparison purposes, and exporting is a huge resource hog. Silkypix is just clunky to use, so I simply use it as a TIFF file converter when I don't trust Lightroom to handle my Fuji RAW files.

I've not tried Capture One because it's completely outside of my budget, so I can't compare, but you get my point.

For sorting and cataloging I much prefer PhotoMechanic. I shoot for press a lot and this is what my clients use. Beyond cropping and leveling features, there is basically no editing. It's not designed for that. I am not a big fan how LR handles files. To me, it just does not blend well with how the OS looks at file structure. I like LR for quick adjustments. And still use PS for heavier editing. On1 deserves a look, but not sure it's going to be enough to move me from LR which comes along with PS at $10/month.

I'm using a Windows system, so Photomechanic isn't available for me. But even otherwise, and despite my dislike of LR, it's still what works best for me.

I'm trying out the free copy of Dx0 Optics Pro 11, and I really don't like it. Clunky crop/straightening tool, no dodge and burn tool, a lot of redundancy in the interface and heavy CPU usage. I also dislike how it forces you to auto correct distortion and vignetting, when there are times I prefer not to. And of course, Dx0 Optics Pro doesn't support Fuji raw files.

I was quite surprised at that lack of general attention beyond the Nik announcement. It is not the only good software around, but it's a damn fine contender, and I'm sure there would be a lot of people interested in a serious review. A really serious one comparing the main competitors (LR / CaptureOne / Photolab / MacPhun and a couple of others...) would be real nice to have.

I welcome the new products as I want to leave Adobe sooner than later so I will wait to see if On1 2018 gets dual monitor support, soft proofing and a better print module. Until this happens I will stay with LR6 and On1 Photo 10. Once On1 does this and stability issues fade then I will dump Adobe like a hot potatoe!

It's not like On1 is a sole alternative to LR. There are RawTherapee, CaptureOne and DxO PhotoLab for example. So don't let anything to stop you from jumping Adobe bandwagon :)

I switched to PhotoLab+FilmPack recently and can't be happier. And they're offering a significant discount for latest bunch of products and even previous version(Optics Pro 11) for free until November 30th. http://www.dxo.com/us/practicalphotography

Yeah I'm curious about Fuji support too... I would assume that most processing software by now would support my camera (the X-T2) I'm still finding a few (lesser known ones) that still don't, even though it's been out for about 11 months now.

on1 is working fine not perfect but neither are its rivals they all have problems

but I have been using on1 from day one and the latest version is fine, yes its not perfect as I said but it is constantly updated every month, and more likely to have the bugs fixed than any of the others.just look at Lightroom the new version is full of bugs and is SLOWER than a snail

a lot of complaints the great Adobe are having regarding this version,

Capture one is still quiet buggy so no change there

you have to make the decision yourself a lot on here are bias one way or anothereven me,

why because I like, and own on1 and have preordered Luminar skylum,

just to get away from Adobe, like a lot of others are doing,

Adobe is for shareholders not there customers are treated like ^%^^^$%$%&

IMO, I wouldn't say "much faster"... it's just a tad bit faster, but that's about all I can see (as far as I can tell, building Smart Previews isn't any faster than before) which was/is my biggest complaint, especially on large imports). And my catalog isn't huge (maybe 13k photos) and it seems slow. I am in the processing of rebuilding my desktop so I'll try it there too and see (currently using it on my laptop, which has decent specs but the desktop is much faster).

I'm all for sticking it to Adobe, but If I switch to ON1 am I trading one vendor locked DAM for another? The value is in the edits across my library and there's no way to port those edits across platforms.

Just installed the final version after using all 4 betas. Still shows "potential" but some fatal flaws remain. The UI is constantly getting in the way. Still no two-finger scroll support when using trackpads, horribly slow to switch between images when in Develop view, no view of editing history, no handling of RAW+JPG pairs (yet), no quick way to filter on metadata (LR does this very well).

The actual image processing results are fine, no complaints about the handling of Fuji RAF files. Some powerful tools there but ultimately the software just can't get out of its own way when trying to go through a workflow.

I bought into the hype about On1 Raw 10 and in is excruciatingly slow to load from image to image. I’ve never used editing software that took so long to render between images in develop mode. I shoot humdreds of images per session and it’s unusable. If they haven’t fixed this, it’s also going to be unusable.

Ribbit74,I am interested in getting ON1 2018. However, I do shoot in RAW + JPEG and was really frustrated when you said it could not handle this combo. My images are assembled in Picassa as 1 RAW and 1 JPEG. Can't I just send the RAW to ON1 and carry on?ThanksPhotodoc63

Interesting point on un-stacked pairs. I didn't notice this behavior as different because I've always imported my RAW + JPG pairs as separate files in LR. More often than not I wanted quick access to both. Purely personal preference.

Please check me on this - when imported to LR aren't the RAW and JPG files still separate in the actual drive folder and only stacked inside the LR view?

If this is the case, the On1 Browse view is by nature a file browser and in that view I'd expect to see the actual files in the folder as un-stacked pairs. Stacking would be visible only if you choose to add image folders to the Cataloged Folders option - this is where I'd like to see auto-stacking take place.

Been on the lookout for a tool to migrate from LR and accommodate my library (over 500K images), process large RAW files from Nikon D850 and other cameras as well as handle 3rd party plugins. Photo RAW 2018 is doing the trick for me, I participated in the beta program. It was stable throughout, minor issues as expected during the beta though resolved by now. I’m able to do digital asset management pretty much the same as LR and files are processed ultra fast.

It’s worthwhile to watch some intro training videos to learn the interface as it’s different than LR. The editing functions are quite powerful and I find I don’t need to use an external editor for most situations.

3rd party plugins can be easily be called from Photo Raw 2018, some require files to be moved back to the folder although I’ll handle that gladly to not have to pay monthly Adobe LR subscription extortion fees to access my photos until I die.

I spoke a little too fast. I proceeded to migrate my 500,000 images to ON1 photo using the migration assistant and the process failed, I needed to break down my LR library into smaller catalogues and then it worked better.

I found that Catalogued Folders in Photo Raw to be doing some sort of activity that results in my Macpro crawling with 700% CPU busy for sometimes 30 minutes to an hour at a time. I don't know what is actually going on, there is pie chart showing progress. I could understand this going on the first time although as I was adding migrating smaller libraries, this cataloguing activity seems to be restarting again beyond the images I was migrating. Hopefully once I'm done migrating everything the cataloguing will be limited to the few images that I update at a time or import from a memory card.

I edited the same photos I shot tonight in Palm Springs in 4 programs. ON1, Lightroom, ACDSee and Exposure X3. The new On1 did much better then I was expecting betting Lightroom for a better look for most of the photos including better skin tones. ACDsee was second, Lightroom 3rd and X3 just looks very bad.On1 is slow to render out the photos but so is ACDSee Lightroom was faster and X3 was the fastest but the images look horrible VS the others. I think X3 is turning the raw file into a JPG you then edit as it has no latitude for anything. This is the first time in a year I was able to edit a full set of photos in ON1 the other versions was not usable at all. I feel like many should get this upgrade for free as it was so bad before.

ACDSee has the best working interface for editing RAW files and then doing extra work with layers I can do everything I would ever do to a photo in PhotoShop in ACDSEE and more easy.

Update have been working with it a lot . Its ok for raw editing for the basic things but slower than LR and it gets jammed up a lot moving from one image to another that makes it even slower.

The layers area I find to be useless VS programs like ACDSee that you can do all your photo editing in and never have to go into PS. in ON 1 you can not do any of that in the layers area you have no editing tools like curves you need to go back and forth to other areas of the program making it just not usable. ACDSee is very fast like you are working in PS and you have all the tools you need all in one place. For photo editing with layers ACDSee works 100% better even better than Affinity photo that I also have.

All this making ACDSee the best all-around program you can edit your raw files very good in it a little better than Lightroom and a little faster speed then ON 1 and then take an image into the edit area and do everything you would do in PS all in the same program as you are working

I may be missing something ... but to me all these (so called) competitors to Lightroom are missing decent Digital Asset Management / Catalogue facilities? I know Macphun (I think) have said Luminar will get a DAM upgrade next year (2018) but what of the rest?

ON1 supports optional cataloging. You can drag a folder to the box which has the label "Drop your folders here to catalog." Funny!

It can take a long time, but you can keep using the program while it's cataloging in the background. After you've done that, you can select the toggle at the bottom which will show you all pictures in subfolders (but for some reason it's always OFF by default).

Even after cataloging, it still takes a LONG TIME to switch between photos while in Develop mode. It's like it has to completely re-load the module every time you switch to a new photo. Even Lightroom 6, without the speed optimizations of Classic, is much faster.

I'm going to keep using LR6 until I have a camera that isn't supported, and then see what my alternatives are... that'll be sometime next year.

you aren't missing anything, all the alternative RAW editors have really bad cataloging system compared to Lightroom. Even luminar's DAM is lacking compared to LR though it is a good first step in right direction.

Installed it, started to try and use it - crashed after less than a minute and before I did any actual image processing. Tried again, crashed (even quicker this time). In today's world I have never experienced a program crash in years so, clearly, the program is 'well dodgy' - shame as it looked like a nice package to use as a 'one stop solution' for my processing needs in lieu of CS6/LR/Google Collection/Meta Raw/etc.

It's quite clear that I'm not the only one who finds it too unstable to be useable --several hard restarts required after it crashed the video card which no other photo software seems to have any problem with. I still have some vague hopes for Luminar which is out in a few days but ON1 I can forget on that basis alone. Pity perhaps because the RAW processing does seem better.

I'm as cynical as anybody, but I think DPReview makes an effort to not be a simple sales platform. They have recently posted negative opinion articles about the current direction of high volume sellers Canon, Adobe, and maybe another I can't remember. This week they posted a "gear of the year" pick (Leica M10) that their Amazon corporate owners don't even sell directly, you can only get one or two from "other sellers" and Amazon does not even fulfill those orders. Why wouldn't they pick a nice mass-market camera that Amazon can sell a million of?

(I went to B&H Photo's website and found that they are an actual "authorized reseller" of Leica gear. Amazon is apparently not.)

I had LR6 n my HP when the HD crashed. I took it to a repair shop and was able to save my picture file. I bought a new iMac which easily accepted my Picture files. But I could not transfer the backup for LR6 I had with the HP. Since I bought the iMac I have tried to install LR6 and it has crashed every time I install it.The Mac version of LR6 may not be compatible with High Sierra OS on the MAC. However, I have been able to install LR5 Mac with no problem but I miss LR6. I bought LR6 from Amazon in 2015 so I can not return it and say I got a bad copy LR6. Anybody else out there have problems with LR6 on a Mac? I am looking for an alternative as I do not want subscription software from Adobe.

LR6 works well on my Mac. Really no complaints. I plan to keep using LR6 until it no longer works with my cameras. Then I'll switch to a non-Adobe, non-subscription alternative. So far, the best alternative looks like Capture One 10. It is used by many pros and there is a non-subscription option. Output is excellent.

I went on adobes web site and found out their where crashes with Seirra and High Seirra OS for apple. I down loaded after I uninstalled LR6 and reloaded it and down loaded LR61.3 from Adobes web site and it now works fine.. Thanks for the interest.

I have been using On1 software since Perfect Effects 8. I have bought every upgrade including '17 Raw. I am now trying out the '18 Beta. If you think the '18 is slow, you haven't tried the '17. The '18 seems twice as fast. I can't compare it to Lightroom as I did not buy it after the free trial. Elements fits like a glove and On1 has been a great plug-in. '17 has many of the features Elements lacks. But, it is slow, especially when magnifying for precise editing. Following my pattern, I will buy '18 after the free trial. No rush. After my trial ends, On1 will probably renew the discount to get me back. There is a lot of hype and marketing. Lots of sales gimmicks. If I didn't like the software so much, I would bale. They are getting less personal in terms of customer service. I used to get replies from human beings with extensive answers to my questions. In response to my last letter, they sent me a link to their website.

My go to application. Left Lightroom in the dust last year and have been nothing but satisfied. Gladly will pay for the upgrade even though it's not required, because I want the new features. This isn't a new way of doing business here people. You can stick to the older versions without upgrading- clear as day that the upgrade is not required.

I paid for On1 photo10, When they said they rebuilt the raw engine from ground up, I paid the upgrade for 2017. Now for 2018, I need to pay $100 for the upgrade. Your $100 will probably last for only a year. For the same money you can have Adobe CC suite, which are more powerful and comprehensive.

Horrible UI, with two columns of tiny icons on each side of the screen.You are constantly moving the cursor from one side of the screen to the other.Why can't the icons all be grouped together like Photoshop?

I'm just curious who will ever need to export 648 raw files at once. On the other hand 1 hour 21 minutes for 648 photos makes it 7.5 second per photo, which isn't that horrible in real life when you need to export a dozen keepers per session.

I often export entire shoots to JPG to share with models so they can choose their 10 faves for editing. And I prefer not to have the camera shoot both RAW and JPG at once because it's already chugging slowly enough with writing the RAW files to the camera card (A7Rii, which suffers from sluggish write speeds).

On1 works as a plugin to Lightroom or a stand alone. So if you are doing an export of 648 raw files at full size... (doubtful)... why not just stick to the company with billions of dollars behind their product?

A question was asked on who would do such number of files to export (did not specify what types of photographers) and so I am just trying to suggest who would. I am interested in all new things that are on the market - not necessary wanting to switch but just want know what's out there and new features are there etc. Or maybe someone may not be happy with the how the new version of LR works and just want to explore to see what's out there? Could be many reasons.

Someone may go on a few weeks holidays and may have hundreds of photos to process. It may not be common but it is not unresonable.

Anyone that shoots weddings or many sports events need to render out hundreds of images all the time. Shooting a MMA event I would render out over 800 some events have 15 or more fights plus all the before and after shots. In Lightroom, i would export two versions at once one a full size and one as a website size with logo so that would be 1600 images going out.

@Ribbit74 yes, all 16 threads, but only about 60-70%. With LR everytime CPU usage spikes (80% and over), I get 2-3 photos exported, but with On1, it is one photo at a time, and the software seems to take a rest and then proceeds with the next.

@turretless: Many people do. After a holiday? After a hiking trip? 2 weeks trekking and then wanting to see the photos all in a slideshow? after a shoot, export all for the client to see on a website? many people and many reasons to do batch exporting.

Disclaimer: I'm on the market for a good alternative of LR.

@JakeAllbrightPhoto: I don't troll. I actually tried it. And you can see from the comments that many people do batch processing. That is why batch exporting is a feature in almost every editing software.

Aaaand the question is: is this version stable now, or is it another $80 12 month public beta? I did buy their stuff since Perfect Photo Suite 8, and I loved it. But Photo RAW 2017 was a mess, IMHO, not worth the upgrade fee, and in the end I barely used it. There is absolutely no way I will pay for 2018.

I know this sounds harsh, and I really want to like On1, I did like it very much in the past, but somehow they managed to turn me off even more than adobe did.

After reading their highlighted list of features, so far to me this seems like the best lightroom alternative yet. Luminar is lacking some things this product has. This looks more like a lightroom clone than anything I’ve seen so far, just by reviewing the specs. Looks like it would be worth a trial to get a better feel for it. Still, it would be hard to replace lightroom. I love LR. Just a shame what they did with the $10 price...forcing you to pay for PS too.

Good question princecody. I just tried ON1, DxO, Capture One, and Affinity in an attempt to answer the same question. I shoot with a Sony A7. ON1 crashed my system so I don't know how the output looks. Affinity's output, at least for Sony RAW was beyond bad. DxO was not bad, I kind of liked it. I felt the output in LR was better for Sony RAW. Capture One has a bit of a learning curve, but I watched a 30min. Youtube tutorial and it's not so bad--very flexible UI. But the output is extraordinary. The full version is $299. It's half price for University Students, but if you shoot Sony there is a Sony only version of the full product for $50, so for me this is a no-brainer. I think Capture One handles Fuji X-Trans files better than some as well.

.... I'm interested in Luminar, but they won't have a Windows Trial until Nov. 16. Not sure on the output, but the price would be in the same ballpark as Capture One for me. One other thing that pushes me toward Capture One is that you can use it as either a session or in catalog mode. I do not want to have to open one file at a time, but I organize my files by year, month, and sometimes special shoot, so I often like a session mode. BTW, Capture One and LR are fastest on my machine. 6-core, 16GB of RAM and Win10 64. My graphics card is just a 2GB, so nothing screaming. Affinity and ON1 are extremely slow (and then ON1 always crashes my machine when loading files). I should not have to "fix" my machine for ON1 to work when C1 and LR work flawlessly.

I've tried a few different options the last few weeks, alien skin, ACDsee, luminar, affinity, lightzone, on1 and dxo. If I'm to call a spade a spade, I know my way around lightroom a lot better and prefer it's user interface.

As for results, dxo for me matched image quality output but with more time and effort than lightroom. The rest were behind by a nice amount, at least for my ability. Lightroom just does everything well. Luminar beta is hard to judge as it had very few Raw features. I was going to buy it for 49 as I beta tested it but won't bother I think. I'll look at it again in a few months.

Jefftan, I don't remember if I can link to another site. If you search Capture One on Youtube, it's the first hit, and it's really good. The complete time is 31:18 by Michael W. It's 3 years old, but applies nicely.

Sunnycal... Interesting about AfterShot and Fuji. I tried a couple of versions back and it just wasn't great or efficient with my Olympus files.

It was the powerful DAM features that brought me to Lightroom and it is only a new DAM that will lead me away (and I'd be happy to leave Adobe). I appreciate all of the editing options these companies are touting but it seems like none of the LR alternatives have realized that a lot of people care more about the DAM primarily and the editing options secondarily. Maybe I'm in the minority on this one, I'm not sure.

Check out DXO photolab. I was a former Adobe subscriber but I used Bridge rather than Lightroom so I don't know for sure how it compares. I use DXO photolab with Affinity Photo and like the results though it is a bit of a steep learning curve. Affinity Photo is astonishingly good value at £49, DXO Photolab not so much at £119 for Elite version.

@composed When you recommend software it would be helpful if you mentioned which operating systems are compatible. Lightroom and On1 are compatible with Windows and Mac; iMatch is only compatible with Windows.

@Asser - the nice thing about IMatch is the pro level of tools and EXCEPTIONAL support by the "single developer".. Since your items can be (and should be in my opinion) added right back into your images (XMP by the way) - if he should close shop tomorrow - I'll just take my images to another product and carry right along.

AlienSkin Exposure X3 is almost on par with Lightroom. In terms of dam, I think Photo Supreme also can compete http://www.idimager.com/WP/?page_id=20 Has some great features, although the UI of this looks a bit like the late 90s Java apps which I personally detest (Lightroom isn't great either, but DxO PhotoLab which I use, but not as DAM, has a very modern and clean UI)

BTW, I recently learned: Lightroom is the best free DAM. If you let the subscription/trial expire, everything becomes disabled EXCEPT the DAM functionality. Only thing I really miss is the Map module for geocoding.

Also: Affinity is coming out with a DAM product to supplement their Photo, Designer and soon Publisher products. I think it will be out late 2018 (after Publisher) but could very well become 2019. Meanwhile, I am afraid Lightroom is still the best option for most. CaptureOne is more expensive, and also has a slow DAM and no geocoding/map functionality built in. Another thing that I really like about Lightroom is the plugin architecture. Easy to fill gaps with plug-ins.

I just ran my entire 40k photo library through the Google Vision API to tag them with Google Machine Vision API (in custom metadata field, seeing if I want to import as keywords) and it worked quite well.

@sohus Yes, this is my plan also. If my Lightroom 6 will not be able to read the raw format of my new cam, I will also try to switch to free Lightroom Classic CC DAM :-) Currently there is no need to.

@fuego After solving some synchronizing issues in IMatch, it really was the best DAM only tool I tested so far. The buddy and version definition through regular expressions was a no1 feature, I always wanted to have. But 110$, the unpredictable future and that I own LR6 turned me off.

I don't think that it is asking to much to include pertinent information when the discussion is about software that is often available for multiple operating systems. Your immature response is uncalled for; I made a simple request. It only takes a few keystrokes to include OS compatibility. It is a simple courtesy to include such information for your fellow forum members. I always make the effort to provide such basic info (and often a link. . .) when I suggest software on a forum frequented by people using a variety of computer systems.

I agree, but I wouldn’t hold up Lr as DAM Nirvana. Speaking as an Aperture refugee, DAM in Lr was a a huge step backwards. Adobe have done nothing significant in that area since Version 1!! Lr currently offers the best DAM option, but there is a huge opportunity for some other company to doa lot better.

@composedIt is an investment, because I invest money and time to setup the new environment. If I have to move on and pay a full price somewhere else it fills like I lost my money. The price of 110$ may be justified, but seemed too high for me, compared to 100€ for LR6 and 40€ for Affinity Photo. Ok for DxO I payed more, but this is the place where the 'rocket science' takes place :-) The core of the whole thing. If DxO would add fast subtree browsing, collection trees and keywording, I would use it exclusively.

Asser - Yes, many people get over defensive when criticised, and many who criticise do so without considering that they are being offensive. Robust debate is fine, but rudeness is unacceptable.

If someone responds to one of my posts in an offensive manner, I find the best approach is to avoid an instant response. Over-reacting leads to esaclation and all parties become losers. Waiting a while before replying allows time for reflection and to formulate a polite and more appropriate reply.

@fuego In some thread I read that there are no such discounts. If you are a customer of last version, you get coupons as much as you want. But otherwise, no. So you need to know someone, who can buy a version for you.

Also missing is the ability to quickly "drill down" on metadata, which I love in Lightroom and hope other programs support this. In other words, go to browse mode and quickly see all images from a particular camera and/or lens combination, or quickly see what your most frequently used focal lengths are.

Given that ON1 optionally supports cataloging and indexing folders, there no reason they couldn't do this.

Cataloging is the one important aspect. The other is support for external RAW development tools like DxO. If I do not have a nice roundtrip between DAM tool and RAW processing tool with developed preview in the DAM tool afterwards, then the tool is not worth a cent for me.

@Asser - that is what versioning or embedded previews are for... if you are dealing with RAW items and your RAW software doens't embed the edited image back into the file - then you will need to export another variant and version them together. I do this with C1... all edits to RAW files are done in C1, export to JPG, catalog and IMatch... version RAW+JPG together - all edits cascade between the two and you see your edits via the Master JPG. Simple, elegant, quick and XMP secure.. its a winning combo. Of course - the nice part is using any RAW editor you wish... then do all your cataloging in a dedicated DAM product that does one thing.. and one thing very well.

I don't have Lightroom so am not exactly sure what you mean by history panel. I have one in Elements that lists all of my edits but I don't need it in On1 because all of my edits are visible all of the time.

I think the history panel is still on the coming soon list. I use the history panel extensively in LR. I will often use it to see if I'm going in the right direction with the last few adjustments. It is just so much easier than trying to turn off adjustments or doing a series of undos followed by the same number of redos. The history panel is also useful for seeing if I applied one of more presets since this isn't obvious from looking at the current state of the slider.

I don't know how Lightroom works but everything one is doing in On1 is visible at all times. One can turn off any adjustment, lower the opacity of that effect, or switch to develop and adjust Raw settings. All while seeing the same image and having access to all effects. Can click one off then back on without deleting it. I create presets then click on that preset with a new image. I might throw out one effect and add another. Return right to the preset if I wish. No need to undo, redo, step back, check history. All the layers are there and adjustable at all times.

Put this out there at $59 and people will make the effort to switch from LR and start learning a new application. Functionally, it may be worth more, but that's assuming people aren't already using a competing product.

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